It’s important that you read toastie in the title to rhyme with Jedi. Even if it makes you sound a little like an Essex native. That way I can justify any inadvertent Star Wars references later.
There and Back again.
He’s back! After 6 weeks we finally have the Beast back on our drive, and the road looks right again. I had no idea how wound up you could get about a rusty collection of nuts and bolts held together with paint, but it turns out that I’m really quite fond of him these days. Partly, of course, because he is the whole concept behind our business, but also because we’ve been through a lot now, and he has mostly kept on chugging.
The Jabberwocky is now better off by one new second hand radiator, one clutch, a half set of spark plugs and a Frankenstein’s Monster-style reconstructed engine, made up out of bits of old engine, bits of new second hand engine and the occasional brand new piece. We discovered, during this process, that the old engine, which last recorded it’s mileage at 145,000, has been re-bored three times in the past, which probably explains some of the characterful cloud of smoke that liked to engulf passers by.
Re-boring, I have learned, is when you take the thingies out because they have worn out and no longer fit. You then drill the hole again, and put bigger thingies back in. I imagine by the time you’ve done it three times you’re probably into “yo mama” jokes about the size of that hole. At any rate we’re all very excited to learn that the smoke, while it has lessened, is by no means actually gone, and will still be entertaining guests up to several streets away for many years to come.
With the great green food van back in our lives we can once more think about the future, and how we are planning to go about it. I’d pretty much forgotten that we redid most of the kitchen in the new year, and we get to test it tomorrow for the first time at the Walsall Night Market. Not only that, after the rather clunky service in the gazebo, based around the sideways location of the cooker, we will finally be back up to full toasting capacity, facing our customers, rather than with me standing around wondering what to do with my hands while Barny frantically throws toasties through the press.
There’s a system, you see: I take the order, get the toastie out, put it on the press and tell Barny what it is, he looks at the customer and registers face and toasted sandwich selection in his freakishly good memory. I take the money, usher the customer gently to one side while they watch their toastie like a hawk (everyone does). Barny flips, toasts again and serves to that customer, while I’m already adding more toasties from the other side. It’s food poetry. Or edible music, or something equally delicious sounding. It’s going to be so nice to finally toast properly tomorrow for the first time this year.
One Star Wars reference, as promised.
Rejoice! The Beast is Back.